Planing corporate meetings can be compelling and productive when executed right.
You know when you have back-to-back meetings, and it feels like one meeting follows another?
Well, this is a list of things to do to make those days a little bit easier.
For practice proposes, we will discuss planning and setting up a meeting that requires a little bit more than coffee and the meeting room in the office facilities. 🙂
Are you capable of planing the corporate meeting? Or do you need professional help?
Well, you have to be honest on this one.
Sometimes does not have to do with being capable. Most of the time is about time and, of course, budget.
Are you going to organize a corporate meeting and at the same time take part? Do you have at hand all it takes? Like providers, assets, even have you thought about how many contracts you have to do with different providers.
Like many other jobs globally, some professionals surge to execute certain types of professions. Meeting planners are one of those that can help you a lot.
For three main reasons
- Meeting planners save you time – maybe the most important reason.
- Meeting Planners save you cost; they invest in relationships, and they work with providers constantly.
- Meeting Planners have perfectionated their craft – for sure; they know their business. Like you know yours.
You can read more about why you should hire a meeting planner here.
Decide the specs of the meeting.
To whom you are talking in the meeting
If you’re planning a meeting, take time to think about who should be there.
You’re invited to a meeting, and you’re wondering why you’re there? Don’t waste people’s time by inviting them to a meeting they don’t need to attend. That will not be an effective meeting.
If the corporate meeting is an hour-long, invite a guest speaker and moderator.
Now that you know made the first draft a list and know who should attend, you need to consider the group’s size and the venue.
More than 70% of senior managers think they’re unproductive and waste time in meetings. One of the biggest reasons for this is inviting the wrong people, so it’s always essential to make sure that everyone needs to be there.
Size of the invites
Well, this point is something that maybe will change a lot of things, for instance, the budget or perhaps the venue. So try not to change the number of persons that you invite to the meeting. We talk about managing whom to invite in our previous point, so you are 100% sure that you have the correct persons. Of course, there can always be changes but should be minor changes.
Choose the Venue
You choose the venue according to 3 main aspects.
- The type of the meeting
- The Budget
- The Size
There are many other aspects like Uniqueness, catering options, etc. But the above is not substitutable.
You can pick an in-house room for your meeting (rooms available on the concierge floor), but maybe they are too dull. Or choose a busy café with a nearby conference room. But do make sure the room has good airflow and is not noisy. Or you can be creative and choose a unique venue close to the office.
Why is it important to choose the venue? In our experience, there are a lot of things that you can substitute during an event. But not a Venue. Imagine you plan everything for a Venue and at the end is not available or for budget reasons you need to change it. All the work you have done will be lost; you need to talk to the guest again, change all the timings, maybe other providers, etc.
Ensure that the venue you book is within your budget and that it will be reliable and able to accommodate your number of guests.
Have an Agenda
Create the Meeting Agenda
Once you have cleared the invites and the venue is time to write. Create a clear agenda and invite the key people who will be involved.
Prepare all attendees for the meeting. Review the schedule with all participants and ensure everyone understands the meeting’s purpose and the topics to be discussed.
Gather as much information as you can about topics that you will cover in the meeting.
Don’t be afraid to update the schedule to reflect new facts, trends, and actions.
Consider at least 3 Agendas
For Guests
Simple, it covers everything and is easy to understand. This agenda will be sent to all participants to invite them and consider that it could be printed or handed out to participants.
One good tip is to show this plan to someone not related to the topic; they could give you excellent input.
For you and stakeholders
We call this agenda minute by minute. It covers everything, like providers, speakers, arrivals, staff, and all need to run the show.
Make sure to share your agenda with all stakeholders so that they can prepare for the meeting. When your meeting begins, stick to the schedule and guide the discussion with it. It should help you keep track of the activities related to it.
For the Facilitator
When it comes to meetings, there’s no substitute for a smart facilitator. They keep the meeting on track, call out off-topic participants, and summarize the key takeaways and next steps.
Share an Agenda with the facilitator and spend some time to clear doubts. In the end, the facilitator will lead, improvise if needed and close the meeting.
Communicate the Meeting
When planing a corporate meting communicating is one of the essential tasks, no matter the size or difficulty of the meeting.
Send Invitations
Sending out the relevant invitations for the event is one of the essential points. Without invitations, the information will not be clear. These should be designed to reflect the event’s philosophy by briefly explaining what the event is about and giving participants brief details such as date, time, and venue.
Another critical point is to set a deadline for confirming attendance to make preparations (catering, security, speakers, activities, etc.) and more control over the event’s design and capacity.
Automate Messages
Automating messages can be helpful as it can help you respond to attendees more quickly and concisely. Using apps for immediate feedback and guidance on the event to those who need it. This way, attendees will be able to answer all their questions and doubts, which will give an extra plus to the event.
Include Reminders
Reminders are pretty crucial for the attendance of all your guests at the meeting. Sometimes your participants are so busy that they forget the date or time of the meeting. Today there are several reminders, digital or tangible, that facilitate communication and keep meeting in mind.
You can also use reminders to update and give helpful information regarding the meeting.
Meet and communicate with staff and personal Involved
When planning a corporate meeting previous preparation of all the personnel involved is essential for the logistics of the event. A well-communicated team is foreseen for any mishap guaranteeing the meeting’s success. It diminishes the risks of bad logistics in the event.
For a good organization of the meetings, it is necessary to communicate with the personnel involved and make them aware of all the meeting details, such as its location, time, and topics.
Make meetings more inclusive.
Being inclusive doesn’t mean inviting everyone to the company event. Remember that inclusivity is about making others feel welcome, not just about having a diverse group of people at your event.
Setting up a safe space for people to express their opinions is vital. When you treat your employees as equals and allow them to share their ideas, work can get done.
Although it’s essential for everyone to feel welcome at the meeting, it’s okay if people don’t want to speak. There are many ways to keep people engaged and involved.
In big meetings, we have used an app to share comments and pictures live. We also use the app for participants to write questions and answer surveys. Technology can also be used for this but not exaggerate.
For example, when you have a big meeting with people who work remotely, you should consider video conferencing so that everyone can be present. But it is hard to communicate and brainstorm without seeing each other’s reactions, so it’s essential to keep in touch and very difficult to be inclusive.
Use technology and ban devices if you can
Use tech to keep attendees engaged. People have been using graphics and videos to support the words they hear since they learned how to read. This will help make your presentation more engaging and exciting for them.
If you integrate several services simultaneously, like Audio, Video, and Lightening, make sure you run some tests before.
If you need more complicated actions like switching from one presentation to another, make sure you ask your meeting planner to put all the presentations together (blending software) and integrate lighting, audio, and video. Meeting Planners, for sure, will have top-notch technology for this.
If you plan a virtual corporate meeting, It’s hard to get your message across when you’re going online, but there are some simple ways to make things easier for yourself.
For many businesses, physical meetings are the best way to get their message across. But if you’re struggling to get the same message across, you might need to consider meeting tools. These tools will give you the extra push that your business needs.
Rate the meeting helps to schedule and gathering feedback after each meeting.
Jottie – brings note-taking, to-do list, and decisions making on meetings
Tooqan collects honest feedback post-meeting from attendees
Veed is an alternative to Loom that records your screen and webcam side by side
A good tool can’t save a lousy meeting. Before adding in your tools, make sure that you have a solid meeting plan and
Ban Devises
Mobile devices are a significant distraction. Sixty-nine percent of millennial and Gen Z respondents told Udemy that their phones had distracted them while they’re working. According to the study, 1/3 of the active workforce are millennials.
Plus, if you’re using your phone while your peers make decisions, it can make them feel like you don’t care about what they’re talking about.
When people feel like they can bring their own devices into a meeting,they won’t be able to focus on the meeting or contribute to it.
But how can we ban these distractions? If the agenda, the speakers’ profile, the invitations, and the complete information are in the meeting’s official app. Well, it depends on the type of meeting.
If it is informative invite as many persons, you can use technology, impress them.
If the meeting is to take decisions, you should keep it simple and stick to the basics.
Send out a Meeting Summary
In the agenda, we recommend you add some Notifications. These also include post-meeting.
It’s essential to stay in touch with your colleagues and clients. Send out a summary of what was discussed to make sure everyone is on the same page.
This is an essential step in the process. Keep in mind that you can use email templates to make this part of the process easier. You can automatize this task very quickly with tools like Mailchimp, HubSpot, Zendesk, or Freshdesk.
Also, everybody must be on the same page when it comes to following up. When people come away from a meeting with different interpretations, it can be challenging to understand what went on and how to follow up.
Recap Every meeting should end with a recap of what was discussed, who is in charge of implementing the new tasks, and the open items.
It’s important to close by recapping what you’ve done and set the stage for what is coming next. The best way to do this is to mention the accomplishments achieved during the meeting and any next steps.
Extra Tips on how to plan a corporate meeting
Be Clear About Expectations
When you first send out a notification of the meeting, be clear about the meeting’s purpose and expectations. This way, people know what they’re signing up for, and you can get feedback before the session is over.
In some corporate cultures, employees aren’t allowed to speak because their opinion doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is the thoughts and ideas of the higher-ups. In other companies, employees are allowed to contribute freely. The idea of a meeting is not to present information and then sit back while others do the same. Instead, meetings are often structured as a collaborative process where every voice is valued, and everyone is encouraged.
Decide whether you need to meet.
When you plan a corporate meeting, ask yourself (or your team) if the meeting would be helpful and if it has to involve everyone. Think about who needs to be there for the meeting to be successful.
Managers are aware of the detrimental effects meetings have on their work. In a 2017 Harvard Business Review survey, about 65% of senior managers said meetings keep them from completing their work and come at a deep thinking expense.
Keep It Short and Simple
The average meeting typically lasts about an hour. This might sound like a reasonable amount of time. Still, in reality, the average person has a short attention span and can focus for about 20 minutes before needing a break.
When meetings are too long, people tend to linger and waste time after the meeting is over. This is because they don’t have a set agenda and don’t know when the meeting starts.
How can Yea Yea Events help you to plan your next corporate meeting?
If you are looking for a company to plan and coordinate your next meeting, corporate event, or conference, you have come to the right place.
Our team has years of experience from the world’s largest and most prestigious companies performing events. We can design a background for an intimate meeting of 20 or a conference for 5,000.
We have a deep understanding of what makes a successful event.
Check out our value promise. We have all you need for your next event, with the best conditions you will find out there.